President Kovind? BJP’s Dalit gambit splits Oppn
The NDA’s presidential candidate, Ram Nath Kovind, looked headed for a comfortable victory, with divisions widening in the opposition camp that is bracing up for a contest in July 17 polls.
Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad indicated on Tuesday that the grand old party was not inclined to support a “hardcore BJP leader” as the presidential candidate and would work on building a consensus on an opposition nominee.
The Left parties including the CPI(M) and the CPI share the Congress’ stance, but more chinks surfaced in the opposition camp on Tuesday.
Samajwadi Party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav on Tuesday joined Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and BSP supremo Mayawati in endorsing Kovind’s candidature.
“The BJP has given a good candidate. I have a very old relation with him,” the SP patriarch told ANI.
While the victory of the NDA nominee seems to be a fait accompli, the forthcoming presidential election has become a test case for the opposition’s unity, the centrifugal idea behind efforts to field an opposition candidate.
If opposition parties end up splintered in the presidential election, it would be a setback to the nebulous idea of mahagathbandhan or an alliance of nonBJP parties, a term that gained currency after the successful experiment in Bihar assembly elections in 2015.
Kovind, who resigned as Bihar Governor on Tuesday, is likely to file his nomination papers on June 23, before Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves for abroad.
Kovind will later go on a countrywide tour to seek support from the electorate including members of Parliament and state legislatures.
The Congress on Tuesday played down the significance of the BJP’s Dalit gambit, stating that it had made a Dalit president 15 years ago.
“We don’t want to comment on his personality, but will talk on merit. This is a fact that he (Kovind) is a hardcore BJP leader. How can one support a hardcore BJP leader? This seems a little impossible,” Azad told ANI, adding that a decision will be taken with consensus.
Opposition parties will meet on Thursday to finalize their stance on the NDA’s presidential nominee but the ruling NDA’s Dalit gambit appeared to have flummoxed many of them.
Senior JD(U) leaders will meet on Wednesday to finalise the party’s stance but chief minister Nitish Kumar set the tone on Monday, expressing “happiness” about the nomination of the then Bihar Governor.
BSP supremo Mayawati has declared that she will support Kovind if the opposition grouping doesn’t field a Dalit candidate. Almost all constituents of the NDA have endorsed Kovind’s candidature and even some non-NDA parties such as the YSR Congress, the TRS and a section of the AIADMK have pledged support.
Meanwhile, a comment Kovind had made in his capacity as BJP spokesman in 2010 returned to haunt him.
“Islam and Christianity are alien to the nation,” he had said at a press conference, while demanding that Justice Ranganath Misra commission, which had recommended inclusion of Muslim and Christian converts among Dalits, be scrapped.
His comment came in reply to queries about quotas enjoyed by Dalits belonging to other religions. HT sought comment on it from at least three senior BJP leaders but they refused to comment, saying that they had never heard of it.
On Tuesday, Kovind met senior ministers and BJP leaders in New Delhi.
Sources close to him told HT that his family had an idea that his name was being discussed as the NDA’s presidential candidate but his wife, who was in Delhi for an eye treatment, came to know about the decision only through television.
She could not speak to Kovind, who was in Patna, for hours after the announcement as he got busy in discussions with party leadership and attending to guests. Kovind reached Delhi last night and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah.
He spent his day at Bihar Niwas in Delhi, meeting party leaders. The security was beefed up at Bihar Niwas and at his North Avenue flat where his wife stays.
ON TUESDAY, KOVIND MET SENIOR MINISTERS AND BJP LEADERS IN NEW DELHI.